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Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Microscopic slow motion jellyfish stings

Have you ever been stung by a jellyfish and wondered to yourself how some things so small and non descript could possibly hurt so much?

A new
video posted by SmarterEveryDay explains
how jellyfishes’ tentacles are equipped with organelles called
nematocysts that extend whenever they come into contact with something
else and inject venom directly into it.

To give us a demonstration of this, there's amazing microscopic slow-motion footage of jellyfish tentacles that get
stimulated with electricity a 9-volt battery. Once the tentacles get
touched, we can see tiny little prickers protrude from them that would
injected venom into your hand if you touched them yourself.

And this
explains why jellyfish stings hurt so incredibly much: They’re basically
a bunch of tiny microscopic knives that are stabbing you all at once
and flooding your body with a painful chemical. Watch the amazing video below.